late 2020, President Trump accused some combination of corrupt state election officials, fraudulent voters, doctored voting machines, and unspecified shadowy actors. In a speech on December 2, for example, he alleged “tremendous voter fraud and irregularities” resulting from a suspicious latenight “massive dump” of votes; he added in this speech that certain votes were “counted in foreign countries,” that “[m]illions of votes were cast illegally in the swing states alone,” and that “[i]t is statistically impossible” that he lost.[1] “This election was rigged,” he insisted.[2]
Our legal system affords many ways in which a candidate can contest the outcome of an election. President Trump took full advantage of those opportunities, focusing on the states in which he claimed President Biden had been improperly recognized as the winner: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. President Trump and his allies ultimately filed 62 lawsuits in state and federal courts contesting every aspect of those elections.[3] But all of these suits were dismissed, save for one marginal Pennsylvania suit that did not affect the outcome there.[4] In dismissing these suits, judges at all levels—including several of President Trump’s own judicial appointees—found that his claims were “not credible,” “without merit,” and “flat out wrong.”[5] Courts warned that some of his suits improperly aimed to “breed confusion,” “undermine the public’s trust in the election,” and “ignore the will of millions of voters.”[6] As Judge Stephanos Bibas (a Trump appointee) observed in one characteristic opinion: “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of
- ↑ Donald Trump Speech on Election Fraud Claims Transcript, December 2, Rev (Dec. 2, 2020).
- ↑ Id.; see also, e.g., Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Dec. 30, 2020 2:48 PM) (“United States had more votes than it had people voting, by a lot. This travesty cannot be allowed to stand. It was a Rigged Election, one not even fit for third world countries!”).
- ↑ William Cummings et al., By the Numbers: President Donald Trump’s Failed Efforts to Overturn the Election, USA Today (Jan. 6, 2021).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Allison Durkee, Trump Election Lawsuit Against Brad Raffensperger, Brian Kemp Fails in Georgia, Forbes (Jan. 5, 2021).
